Friday, October 9, 2009

New post on the new blog

As we posted before, the Stumptown Sports Hook is merging into an all-in-one Vanguard blog.

New posts are up, including Allison's thoughts on this week's football game against Northern Colorado, Theo's take from a show at the Doug Fir and video of Lenny Kravitz in a hockey fight (not entirely true).

So, go check it out.

Seriously. Do it!

Wednesday, October 7, 2009

Stumptown is moving!

Hello everyone!

This post is to let you know that the Stumptown Sports Hook will be changing location to the Vanguard's new and improved blog.

Check us out!

http://vanguardblog-psu.blogspot.com/

"This Week in Big Sky Football" and coaches conference call podcast, Oct. 7

The weekly conference call with Portland State football's head coach Jerry Glanville is available. This week he's the third coach on the podcast after the head's of Eastern Washington and Sacramento State.

The newest installment of "This Week in Big Sky Football" is also up. The guests this week are Northern Arizona's coach Jerome Souers, Montana State safety Kevin Retoriano and David Coulson, the executive director for the Sports Network.

Enjoy!

Saturday, October 3, 2009

Live blogging: PSU hosting Sacramento State

It's an October afternoon at PGE Park and we are ready to see some college football. The crowd is bundled up and--well, sparse to say the lease. But that--and the fact that we here at the sports desk maintain the Internet is a fad--aside, I'm going to try and give live blogging the game a shot.

As we get ready for the coin toss and kickoff, I'll provide a little background. Portland State, 1-3 on the season and 1-1 at home, is coming off a disappointing last-minute loss against Weber State, and Sacramento State, 0-3, is still looking for their first win this year.

Coin flip:

Portland State wins and elects to receive.

More after the jump.


Wednesday, September 30, 2009

Weekly media call and "This Week in Big Sky Football"

That's right folks, it's that time of the week!

Audio from the conference call with Portland State football's head coach Jerry Glanville is up. The file starts off with the end of Eastern Washington's Beau Baldwin taking questions, but then includes the head coach from this Saturday's game--Sacramento State's Marhsall Sperbeck--before Glanville fields questions.

Guests on "This Week in Big Sky Football" include Sperbeck, Idaho State wide receiver Jaron Taylor and David Coulson, executive director of FCS football for the Sports Network.

Enjoy.

Tuesday, September 29, 2009

Viking recognized nationally

Portland State wide reciever and kick returner Aaron Woods was named as both the Big Sky Special Teams Player of the Week and the Sports Network's National Special Teams Player of the Week for his performance in Saturday's game against Weber State.

The press release says it best:
Woods returned five kickoffs for 202 yards and a 97-yard touchdown to keep Portland State close in its 36-29 loss to No. 11-ranked Weber State at home. His kickoff return for a touchdown helped the Vikings climb back from a 28-10 deficit late in the third quarter. Woods had five catches for 128 and two TDs, his second scoring catch on a 15-yard pass from quarterback Drew Hubel gave the Vikings the lead with 1:15 remaining.

Woods finished with 330 all-purpose yards. Woods leads the Big Sky Conference with an average of 192.8 all-purpose yards per game, ranking third in the nation in that category. This season, Woods has jumped all the way from 10th to second in career kickoff return yards (1,387) at Portland State. Woods set a school single-season record with 908 kickoff return yards last year.
Mike Lund
Assistant Athletics Director
Portland State University

 

Sunday, September 27, 2009

It Came Down to One Play

Vikings fall to Weber State, 29-36
by Allison Whited, Vanguard Staff

Sad. Deflated. Empty. All of these describe the looks on the faces of the football team after the game Saturday against the Weber State Wildcats.

They should have been proud. They lost by only a single touchdown to last year's conference title holder. They kept running back Trevyn Smith, the conference's current rushing leader, to 30 yards when he came in averaging 115.7 yards per game. They played well after the Montana game, something they have struggled with historically.

Head coach Jerry Glanville said it all after the game: “No comments, just disappointment.”

So what happened?

As the clock wound down to 1:12 in the fourth quarter, the Vikings were ahead by one point, 29-28. Less than twenty minutes before the Vikings had been down 10-28. It had been a scrappy comeback, with special teams, defense, and offense scoring to edge out the Wildcats by that one single point.

All day, Wildcat quarterback Cameron Higgins had been picking on the left side of the secondary. Glanville had originally lined up cornerback DeShawn Shead, who is almost always lined up on the right side of the field, against receiver Tim Toone, but, as Glanville put it, “he kept getting into trouble.”

When Shead couldn't answer the call, Glanville put him back on the right where he's comfortable and called Tracy Ford's number to replace him. According to quarterback Drew Hubel, Ford is a team leader who practices more than anyone else on the team and is heavily laden with heart and soul.

When the Wildcats began their run that would eventually lead to a victory, they did what the defending champs would do. In six plays and 47 seconds, they drove from their own 16 to the Portland State 38, aided by a Vikings' pass interference penalty.

After a Viking timeout, Higgins hit Toone in the end zone for a touchdown. That pass looked like a pick to everyone; Ford jumped up to the ball, was in perfect position, and somehow, someway, the ball sailed through his hands.

“I thought we had a pick,” said Glanville.

Even the Wildcat head coach and quarterback thought it was an interception.

With 55 seconds left in the game, the Vikings were emotionally and physically done. The game ended on an incomplete pass to Aaron Woods.

In a game with so many positives, including Hubel going 17 of 26 for 353 yards and two touchdowns, Ray Fry tearing it up for 196 receiving yards, and freshman fullback Ben Bowen rushing for 100 yards and garnering a gaudy 6.7 yards per rush average, the only thing Glanville's men will be thinking about today is that last play.

Like Hubel said after the game, it shouldn't have come down to that one play to win the game. Bowen had fumbled on the goal line and lost possession. Kicker Zach Brown missed two field goals. The team was penalized ten times for a total of 104 yards. Adjust just a few things, and that's the game.

But sometimes it does come down to just one play. It's a lesson that the Vikings and the Wildcats would do well to learn. 

  

Friday, September 25, 2009

Game Thought About Weber State

by Allison Whited, Vanguard Staff

Not that my opinion means much, but from now on, before Saturday's football game, I'm going to write a brief article about how I think the game is going to play out. I will provide some analysis of the opponent and mention what I think will be the key aspects of a Viking victory.

This week's opponent is Weber State. They shared the conference title with Montana last year, so this game is a biggie. In his media call this week, coach Glanville sounded a little bitter about this week's match up. He again and again reiterated that the Vikings have never played well in the game following last week's opponent Montana. Traditionally, the schedule has seen Glanville's men face Montana State after Montana, so this year Glanville asked for a change. This adjustment to the schedule leaves Portland State playing the two conference title holders from last year in consecutive weeks. Ouch.

Weber State has a record of 1-2 with their sole win coming over Big Sky competitor Idaho State. They entered the season with the league's top returning rusher, passer, and receiver.

Opponent Analysis

It will be all eyes on No. 25, running back Trevyn Smith. He is currently fifth on the Big Sky Conference's all-time leading rushers board. He needs just 110 yards tomorrow to move into third. He enters the game averaging 115.7 yards per game. He has also racked up 117 receiving yards so far.

Receiver Tim Toone will be quarterback Cameron Higgins's main target, but I would look for Cody Nakamura to have a good day. He has only 79 receiving yards less than Toone's 263, but twice as many touchdowns. I believe he will have to step up because the Viking secondary is going to put the squeeze on Toone.

The Wildcat defense doesn't strike me as overly stiff. They give up 373 yards of offense per game, and have only registered five sacks on the season. Their strong man on defense, at least statistically, is middle linebacker Taylor Sedillo who has 24 total tackles on the season. That's a respectable, but not mind blowing, 8 per game average, and he has not had a game in which he made more than 10 tackles.

Their secondary also seems a little thin with only three interceptions.

Viking Analysis

Enough can't be said about run defense in this game. If you take away Smith, there is no Wildcat running game. The next leading Weber State rusher is Bo Bolen who has had ten carries for a net 35 yards on the season. The run defense did look good at practice this week, I have to say.

Taking away the run would also force the Wildcats to the air where Higgins does make mistakes; he has thrown seven picks. I've said it many times, but I really like the Viking secondary. It is steady and has big play ability on every snap.

Offensively, the Vikings need to just play their game. Weber State allows an average of 221.7 yards through the air and 151.3 rushing yards per game. I don't want to say specifically what I saw the offense doing this week at practice, but I will say I don't like it. If you have a quarterback you can trust, and I think Hubel is certainly trustworthy, I say take the training wheels off and do it often.

The offensive line will stay strong, despite Moses Punzal's absence and Adam Kleffner's undetermined status. Kyle Ritt did a good job filling in this week, but Manual Rojas missed some stuff and was chastised on a couple of occasions. Lucky for them, the Wildcats don't appear, at least numerically, to have a severe pass rush.

In the End...

For the Vikings to win, they have to play perfect football, something they have not as of yet showed an ability to do. I'm more hopeful than Glanville seemed this week during the media call, but, at the end of the day, it will probably go the Wildcats. Their offense has all three parts working together like a machine.

  

Thursday, September 24, 2009

Tonight's the night...at the Stott

As a part of new student week, Campus Rec is hosting their annual Night at the Stott event this evening from 7:30 to 10 p.m.  The event is free and features a shrimp boil as well as a laundry list of activities, including rock climbing, personal training, yoga, basketball and soccer.

As part of the fun, the aquatics program is sponsoring a "Dive in Movie," where they will project Yes Man on the two-story wall of the pool.

So, bring your Speedo and feed your Zooey Deschanel addiction while getting your swim on.
 

Wednesday, September 23, 2009

This Week in Big Sky Football

Another edition of "This Week in Big Sky Football" is up on the Interwebs. Guests on the show this week include Weber State running back Trevyn Smith, Montana State coach Rob Ash and Big Sky Conference Assistant Commissioner Jon Kasper.

Portland State head coach Jerry Glanville's conference call with the media is also available. Sacramento State's Marshall Sperbeck is on the call before Glanville, so unless you want to hear about the Hornets' bye week, fast forward to the half-way point.



Enjoy!